Business Standard / New Delhi July 29, 2008, 4:59 IST

PANJIM, JULY 24

High procurement: Good strategy or bad arithmetic, examines KP Prabhakaran Nair, agricultural scientist based in Kerala

Of 30 Seats Assigned To Course, Only 22 Were Filled In 2008-10 Batch

Kumar Anand AHMEDABAD

THIS might come as a surprise, but the agri-business management (PGP-ABM) course run by the country's premier Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has not found many takers. Of the total 30 seats that are assigned to the two-year management course, only 22 were filled in the 2008-10 batch.

Growing paddy with less water is possible through the System of Rice Intensification, an innovation thats fast catching up. T M Radha reports.

More often than not, discussions about India's policy on genetically modified (GM) crops result in the point being made about how slow the entire process of clearances by the Genetic Engineering Approvals Committee (GEAC) is. One of the reasons for this is that the GEAC does not give credit to tests conducted overseas and insists they be carried out all over again; the alternative approach would be to say that if certain tests have already been conducted in similar agro-climatic zones overseas, the GEAC should assume the same results will obtain in India as well.

Unlike traditional breeding techniques, whereby hybrids are produced by transferring genes within varieties belonging to the same species, genetically modified crops involve transfer of genes across species. Thus in the case of Bt cotton, a gene of a soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), is inserted into cotton varieties to give them resistance against bollworm pests.

Waterless wheat makes central India

An insect removal bin developed by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu promises to remove insects automatically from stored food grains. The structure has four major parts namely outer container, inner perforated container, collection vessel and the lid. Special container The grains are held in the specially designed inner perforated container. The space between inner and outer container provides good aeration for the insects.